Despite not having a nap yesterday and going to bed a little late, Lucas was still up at 6 am this morning. During the morning we packed because we are leaving today. Lucas pretended he was doing work in the “basement”, which was the closet in the hotel room. He kept running in and out of the closet. We tried to get breakfast at the hotel but it was too slow, so we went to a Dunkin Donuts near Newark Airport. On the way to the airport Lucas repeated everything the GPS (Karen) said. That was pretty funny. When we got on the flight Lucas asked for the “heart pretzels”, which are the in flight pretzels. He fell asleep before take off and it was a good flight. Overall, Lucas did amazing traveling on this trip and we are ready to go somewhere else!
Monthly Archives: August 2022
Family party!
Lucas woke up again around 7 and he was especially crazy. He didn’t want to listen to anything. I got him to calm down and we were downstairs watching Cars while Don showered. I got a phone call from Don, which I thought was weird since we were in the same house, and he said Khris had called to tell him he tested positive for covid. Khris and Jess had just gotten back from Aruba, so they probably picked it up there.
After a few minutes of a little freaking out and trying to figure out what to do because were having a get together at Jonathan’s house today we calmed down and texted Jonathan the situation. We hadn’t been around Khris and Jess much so hopefully we would not get it. We took a covid test to see what our status was. We were both negative and Jonathan and Wiganda were ok with us coming to the party.
We were very sad that Khris and Jess could not come to the party, but still happy we could see some people. We also decided we would get a hotel near Newark Airport, so we could limit our exposure and allow Khris and Jess to move about freely in their home.
Then we packed up and got some Starbucks and headed to Jonathan’s. Don and I left Lucas with Jonathan, Wiganda, and his cousins while we went to pick up the Filipino food we had pre-ordered. We kind of snuck out and when Lucas realized we were gone he was not happy and would not stop crying.
The party was successful. Lots of people were able to show up—Jimmy, Leanne, Glen, Leslie, Anthony, Seba, Miguel, Tracy, Micheal, Teresa, Ari, & Kallan. The food was awesome, but we had so much. The kids got in the pool, jungle gym, and trampoline. The jungle gym had a pole on it that Lucas kept wanting to go down like he was firefighter. We would help him do it, but one time I was across the yard and saw him start to do it himself. I ran over to him but he ended up falling part of the way down. It was so scary but he was ok.
Lucas wasn’t able to nap at all during the day. Every time we tried something would distract him. I felt so bad for him because he was so tired.
After everyone left, Wiganda got the scooters and bikes out. Lucas got a second wind and wanted to scooter. Estelle’s friends stopped by and we went on a scooter walk. I was tired and I could tell Lucas was so tired. We decided around 6 that we needed to leave to go to our hotel. Lucas fell asleep immediately in the car and he was so grouchy when we had to bring him up to the room. He laid on the bed and ate snacks and then we got him in his tent.
Bergen county zoo
We woke up around 7. Lucas had drunk a bunch of chocolate milk before bed, and he ended up puking on his blankets so the first thing I had to do was wash them.
Lucas went outside to play with his Paw Patrol bubble gun. Then he watched Cars while Khris made us some breakfast. We had eggs, sausage, bacon, bread, and fruit. It was delicious. Lucas was upset because the bubble machine had run out of bubbles so we told him we would buy more bubbles later.
We left the house around 9:30 to meet Jonathan, Raiden, and Rayne at the Bergen County Zoo. The kids had so much fun at the zoo. They ran around like crazy. We had a little picnic lunch. Then we finished the zoo by riding the carousel and the train. Then the kids had some popsicles. It was pretty hot and getting time for nap but we decided to check out the playground. The playground had a splash pad and that’s where the kids played most. Luckily, we had extra clothes for Lucas in the car.
We got him all cleaned up and got in the car. We decided to drive around a bit so we could let Lucas sleep. We got some Starbucks and just kept driving. We drove up to Harriman State Park in NY and then we just turned around and went back to Jonathan’s. It allowed Lucas to sleep for about an hour and the drive was nice.
The kids played outside on the trampoline a lot and Don went to the store to get things for the BBQ tomorrow. When Don got back we ate dinner and the kids tried to play some video games. At one point Lucas said, “turn it off I’m going to bed.” So, we decided it was time to drive back to Khris’s so he could sleep.
We stopped at Wegman’s for a pee break and on the way back Lucas ate some cheese and pretzels.
Nickelodeon Universe
Lucas slept pretty good in his tent bed last night. We slept until about 7. Khris bought some bagels for breakfast and we were out the door around 9 to head to Nickelodeon Universe. We stopped at a park along the way it was super hot though.
Nickelodeon Universe is in a huge mall in East Rutherford New Jersey. We had bought wristbands in advance for Don and I, but I would advise just getting the points if you’re going with a small child because they cannot do all of the rides. This was Lucas’s first taste of riding rides. He did all the rides that he could, we might have missed one. He had a blast.
We took a break to have lunch at a pizza place right outside the park inside the mall. It was pretty good. When we came back we did a meet and greet with the Paw Patrol. Lucas loved it. He was really focused on showing them how he could jump haha. We rode a couple of more rides then we let Lucas pick out a toy. He picked a Paw Patrol bubble gun thing.
Once we got in the car Lucas was out. We drove to Jonathan’s house hoping he would nap more there but he would not. So then we went to Lola’s house. Raiden and Rayne were there and they were napping when we got there. Once they got up the three of them danced around, went on the balcony, and looked at Raiden and Rayne’s tablets. Lucas didn’t really know what to do with the tablet because we don’t really let him use one at home. We ate some food and the kids had a lot of ice cream. We left around 6:30 to go back to Khris and Jess’s. Lucas played with his bubble gun outside for awhile. Once Lucas went to bed we all stayed up and played Code Names. It was a really fun game
We woke up today around 7:15. Lucas did a great job sleeping in his tent! So glad we found this idea online. We laid around until 8 and then we packed and got ready to check out. We went to the buffet breakfast in the hotel. It was pretty good but felt very crowded, especially just coming off a pandemic. We had to go to Starbucks for coffee. Then we were on our way to Staten Island to visit Ethan and Pia.
We stopped at Faber Park because we were set to meet up around noon for lunch. Faber Park is right on the water so we could see big shipping cargos on the river. There were a couple of playgrounds but they were right in the sun. Just by chance there was a pool here we asked about it and decided to go in.
The pool had a lot of rules. We could only bring in towels and water bottles, everything else had to stay in your locker. We swam around for a bit then we headed over to Ethan and Pias.
It was really good to catch up with them. We ordered some Mexican food and played with Transformers. Around 2 pm we got back in the car to head to Pearl River NY, where Khris and Jess live. Lucas slept the whole way. On the way we stopped at lookout on the Palisades but we didn’t get out. We saw a deer super close to the parking lot though!
We are staying at Khris’s for the rest of the trip. They have a big bedroom where we can set up Lucas’s tent. We went out to dinner at Murty’s Publick House. It was a nice little Irish place. Don wanted to try Uncle Tom’s Tavern next door but I accidentally went in the wrong restaurant. We saw Khris and Jess for a bit before bed because they were on their way home from Aruba.
